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Photo of the Week: Black-bellied Plover at Howard Marsh

November 8, 2020 By Deborah Edwards-Onoro

The black and white shorebird with long legs, short neck, and round head calmly grazed in the grass next to the parking lot, oblivious to the delighted birders who looked on from a distance through their binoculars and spotting scope.

A Black-bellied Plover isn’t a rare occurrence at Howard Marsh Metropark on the southwestern shore of Lake Erie.

The marsh in northwestern Ohio attracts a lot of shorebirds and waterfowl throughout spring, summer, and fall.

However, the Black-bellied Plover is a bird many people have never seen.

I met five people yesterday at the marsh who had never seen one.

In fall plumage, the medium-sized shorebird still stands out, despite lacking the striking jet black and snow white colors of breeding plumage with checkerboard wings.

Somehow I’ve been fortunate to see the beautiful Black-bellied Plover each year for the past four years.

The first time I saw one was on a group birding excursion organized by Black Swamp Bird Observatory to Sandusky Bay, east of Port Clinton, Ohio.

And the last time—before this weekend—was two weeks ago on the outskirts of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Despite being on their migration path, the Black-bellied Plover is a rare bird to find in southeast Michigan.

After 45 minutes of searching a dull-brown harvested cornfield in cold, windy, overcast weather, another birder and I managed to find the bird less than 20 feet from us, in a flock of Killdeer.

The other birder left. I stayed.

And shared the sighting with three other birders who arrived within 10 minutes to look for the rare bird.

Who shared with 10 other birders.

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: birding, birds, Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Black-bellied Plover, Howard Marsh, Lake Erie, photo of the week, shorebird

Photo of the Week: Irruption Year for Evening Grosbeaks

November 1, 2020 By Deborah Edwards-Onoro

Brilliant yellow, black, and white bird with large whitish bill pauses in the green grass while feeding.

If you’re in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New York, you may soon see a striking black, yellow, and white bird a little smaller than an American Robin at your feeders.

Evening Grosbeaks are moving south this year, with dozens of birders reporting them this week in southeastern and central Michigan.

We haven’t seen any at our feeders (yet), but I hope we will soon! Continue reading Photo of the Week: Irruption Year for Evening Grosbeaks

Filed Under: Michigan, Nature Tagged With: birding, birds, Evening Grosbeak, irruption, photo of the week

Photo of the Week: Third Annual October Big Day of Birding

October 18, 2020 By Deborah Edwards-Onoro

chunky brown bird with brown smudges on white breast and thin white eyering perches on bare tree.
Surprisingly I found this Hermit Thrush on a shrub eating berries

Hard to believe 2020 marks the third year of October Big Day, a global 24-hour event for birdwatchers around the world to watch and report all the birds they’ve seen.

This year had an added bonus for October Big Day, this weekend was also the first Global Bird Weekend.

I’ve participated every year and was happy it didn’t rain this year like it did for my first October Big Day in 2018.

Word has spread about the fun you can have birding!

The first year, over 13,000 people participated. In 2019, more than 20,000 people participated in Global Big Day.

And for 2020, I joined almost 29,000 people in submitting 66,843 checklists of 6,799 species (as of October 18, 2020 at 6:30pm Eastern Time). Continue reading Photo of the Week: Third Annual October Big Day of Birding

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: American Coot, birding, birdwatching, Hermit Thrush, October Big Day, photo of the week, Wilson's Snipe

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